ACR & ACCOA Meeting Notes | Lisa Turek – Email Blast

Hi!

Before I forget, Jeff and Jess Dobbs got a great website started, www.alconaconservatives.com. In it you will find my notes, notes from the Grassroots and Alcona County Republicans, from local to state to US news and there is a forum so you can post comments, things you know, what’s happening in the county…even your favorite meme. So check it out. 🙂  I think this will end up being THE way for all of us to stay connected and informed.  Great job guys!

The Alcona County Republicans met last night. Cam Cavitt was there to make a speech. He said he knows he has not been around our county much since his district is so large but he wants to earn our trust.  He talked about his family, how he was on the Cheboygan Drain Commission and has been an activist for a long time. He is running for Sue Allor’s position that she is term-limited out of. He said Jesse Campbell at the Road Commission is responsible for lake levels around here. He said he is hardline on abortion, his number 1 issue is broadband and phone communication. He took several questions from the audience. A guy named Rick was next to speak (no last name) about the Proposal 3 Initiative. He is out educating people on voting no on Proposal 3.  I will have a dozen or so of his information material at our next Tavern meeting. He did say that if you receive a ballot you didn’t ask for, take it to your sheriff.  This is illegal. Also, do not mail in your ballot early. Mark it and either mail it a day or two before voting or better yet, bring it in. Craig Johnston briefly spoke and said he does have a Facebook page for his campaign.  Carrie Mullins was at the Curran Black Bear Festival and noted that not a lot of people in our county even knew about the proposals coming up on the ballot in November.  Congressman Kevin McCarthy wrote a  “Commitment to America” list of talking points that saved her the trouble of having to do it. I have attached that also. Campaign Sidekick is an app used for campaigning door knocking and phone calls. If anyone is interested in using it, Carrie can get them access.  The county convention to elect the executive committee will be Nov. 28th. On September 30th at 10:00am, corner of M-65 and Bugg Rd will be the meetup to pickup trash for two miles for the adopt a highway section that the ACR sponsors. This is a must-do event! 🙂  Truly, Bob and I volunteered last year and it was a nice walk, and then a nice lunch with some nice people. If you have the time, please feel free to help. 🙂 Gary Wnuk asked if the ACR could do anything about their ACCOA concerns and Carrie said she would make a resolution in support of the one Gary and the Grassroots group did. The meeting adjourned after campaign signs were handed out. 🙂

This morning was the ACCOA meeting. There were 15 people in the audience. Nine board members were present. Board member O’Connor arrived 45 minutes into the meeting. Lenny did most of the speaking at the meeting. He said the board’s legal counsel could not make the meeting due to other commitments. However, the board now had a new FOIA policies and procedures document to adopt. Lenny said this is not in response to the recent requests for information. Delores voted no to adopt as only half of the pages were in the document. The board said this was just a copying error. Gary Wnuk made a quick address to the board mentioning his FOIA request and the timeline of when he first requested and when the information was received. He suggested the board is not transparent in its dealings with FOIA requests. In this, I would agree. When I asked for the 26 legislators that Lenny met with for his housing project, my request was denied stating no document exists. But also no courtesy was extended to let me know if this was an informal meeting, a convention or was this statement not an actual fact. This is why when there isn’t transparency, I have more questions.  Commissioner Thompson said the county is doing budget reviews.  A lady from NEMCSA was there but had no report other than to mention ACCOA board member Kim Fleming is now on the board of NEMCSA. The board is in the process of hiring an in-home service coordinator. Lenny said they have done 455 hours of homemaking and then he explained what homemaking was for those in the audience who may not know. They also provide respite care which is no work, just spending time. Lenny gave all of the next reports. Food service report – this program is free of charge to seniors. Non-emergency transportation is a fee-for-service program. Food bank serves 350 households. Lenny spoke about the livestock purchase from the fair and read his email to their legal counsel and also the email he received in return. He stated there was no impropriety in the transaction he had with ACCOA money and the fair.  He said it was a case of the ACCOA being generous and then extra-generous with the staff while contributing to a community event.  The board is hiring a Kinship coordinator for 55+ seniors who have custody or guardianship of any child toddler through 18 years of age. Dan O’Connor is on the board of United Way and mentioned they have 1,000 pairs of shoes they may be able to help out with. Jaqueline Schwanz said the United Way in Alpena has coats and shoes. Dan gave the superintendent report – confirmed the student count and said enrollment is up ( there are two Ukrainian children here being hosted by a local family that are now in school so that may account for it. 🙂  The news I read says public school enrollment is WAY down throughout the United States with homeschool, charter and Christian school enrollment increasing). Coffee with the veteran’s will be this Sunday from 2-4 at the high school lobby. The finance report was next – the income was $22,000 and the expenses were $104,000. I am going to assume this was for last month and Lenny added some comments to this but I was unable to get the gist of what he was saying. They lost six staff members although no time frame was mentioned. I wondered if this was just in the last month. Next he talked about some openings on the board. He said it’s been all over social media and he has gotten a few letters and resumes. The board has put an ad in the paper.  However, most people get the paper on Thursday and that is ONE day before the deadline to submit letters of intent and resumes to the board. Delores Schlicker asked if the next grant go-round could be used for meal delivery vehicles instead of transportation vehicles. She felt too much money was put into vehicles for transportation and not enough for meal delivery vehicles which are coming to the end of their useful life. There is a new attendance policy and one board member asked if all the board members could see it. The architect for the affordable housing project added a line regarding liability insurance but since it did not change the contract, no action was taken.  There was discussion about lot #109 in Harrisville Township- the one the ACCOA purchased for ‘future use’. Delores asked Lenny if any calls were made to the DEQ or DNR about the property being buildable BEFORE purchasing and Lenny said no. Jaqueline Schwan’s two children made an appearance at this time and went to her at the table. She held her son on her lap while business was being conducted. She also stood and rocked him while the board was discussing a MDSA conference Lenny wants to attend – a conference made up of other directors to be held in Lansing.  A poverty training initiative sponsored by NEMCSA will be given to board members and lastly, and MCO Construction quote was on the agenda but I don’t remember anything mentioned about it. There was a final public comment and there were several. Judy French, Gary Wnuk, me, Pam MacKinnon, Leroy Perrin, Craig Johnston, Patti Thomas, and two other ladies all commented. The comments ranged from FOIA transparency, putting the senior millage in danger with what they are doing, whether or not their focus is really the seniors or something else that has not been communicated, calling board members to vote on the recent lot purchase, using the paper vs. social media as a lot of seniors here don’t even have a computer, why the board is a land speculator now, and some questions as to how many floors and elevators the affordable housing project is supposed to have.  I have to say the board was accommodating and answered several questions that the audience asked. In answer to the last question, Lenny stated the new plan is for one level, no elevators. I do not know who made the change to the three story building that was originally planned but it may have had something to do with the fact we have no fire ladders that go that high.

Afterward, Bob went downstairs and asked about becoming a participating member since they are the only ones that can vote for board members. Robin Oliver told us that only people that receive services from the ACCOA, either meals-on-wheels or in-home services can vote for a board member.  I will repeat this again – NO ONE, of any age, taxpayer or no, can take park in electing representatives to the ACCOA Board which administers dozens of services and receives $800,000 in millage money yearly from Alcona County taxpayers and maintains the community center(which is open to the public) unless that individual receives either Meals-on-wheels or in-home services.  When Bob initially questioned Board Member Will St. John about this, Lenny explained is that they only want those with a “vested interest” to be able to vote.  Hmmmm….I guess paying taxes and being a senior citizen doesn’t qualify.  Apparently the chosen few who are allowed to vote are either mailed a ballot or handed one when the services come to the house.

Tomorrow we will be finishing the bird screen at the county building pavilion and will be playing pickle ball afterward. We have the proposal ready (thanks to Kathy Chiasson) to present at the city planning committee meeting on Oct. 12th. The Harrisville mayor called to express his gratitude to everyone that donates time to fix things up around the county building. 🙂

And that is it for now.  No meetings for the next few days so now I can get back to my other work. 🙂  Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend.

Your fellow patriot,

Lisa